Security in airports, train stations, ports, office buildings and other public or private venues is becoming increasingly important particularly in light of recent violent events.
Typically, security screening systems make use of devices generating penetrating radiation, such as x-ray devices, to scan individual pieces of luggage to generate an image conveying the contents of the luggage. The image is displayed on a screen and is examined by a human operator whose task it is to detect and possibly identify, on the basis of the image, potentially threatening objects located in the luggage. In certain cases, some form of object recognition technology may be used to assist the human operator.
A deficiency with current systems is that they are mostly reliant on the human operator to detect and identify potentially threatening objects. However, the performance of the human operator greatly varies according to such factors as poor training and fatigue. As such, the detection and identification of threatening objects is highly susceptible to human error. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that failure to identify a threatening object, such as a weapon for example, may have serious consequences, such as property damage, injuries and fatalities.
Another deficiency with current systems is that the labour costs associated with such systems are significant since human operators must view the images.
Consequently, there is a need in the industry for providing a method and system for use in screening luggage items, cargo containers, mail parcels or persons to identify certain objects that alleviate at least in part the deficiencies of the prior art.